Project Juice opening on Valencia Street

Project Juice, a San Francisco company, offers beverages with unusual combinations of raw vegetables, fruits and spices that are cold-pressed and combined with triple-filtered water for purity. Photo: Project Juice

Project Juice launched as a delivery service in January 2013, with the hope that San Franciscans would want to buy bottles of organic, cold-pressed juice for nearly $10 a pop.

Project Juice signage is up. Photo: @projectjuice

Eighteen months later, juice is a full-blown San Francisco thing, with juice shops seemingly sprouting in every neighborhood. And Project Juice has been at the forefront. A Project Juice pop-up opened in April 2013, followed closely by its first retail store at Crocker Galleria. It opened in Russian Hill in 2014, and then in Palo Alto in 2014. Owner Greg Malsin hopes to have five or six locations by the end of 2014, including the company’s next incarnation, which will debut on Valencia Street this fall.

“We’re thinking of it like the next evolution, which includes a new look and feel, as well as new branding and food,” says Malsin.

In addition to the usual juices, that also means raw and vegan food grab-and-go options, organic smoothies, and a new line of “wellness shots.” There will be new branding, and a bigger storefront.

So why does Malsin think fancy juices have become so trendy in the city right now? It’s not a particularly profitable business, he notes, calling it “a labor of love.” Despite the prices, high margins aren’t possible with the amount of man-power, equipment, prep and produce (three to five pounds in every bottle).

“I think people’s lives are getting busier, and they’re concurrently trying to be healthier,” he says. “The consumer is being more educated on the benefits of juice — and cold-pressed juice.”